Piastri heads McLaren 1-2 as Verstappen clashes with Russell

Oscar Piastri led Lando Norris home to hand McLaren a 1-2 win at F1’s Spanish Grand Prix, while Max Verstappen was demoted to 10th after seeing red in a battle with Charles Leclerc and George Russell.

Piastri led from pole into Turn 1, while Verstappen jumped Norris by swooping around the outside of the second McLaren.

Behind them there was an intense battle between the Ferraris and the Mercedes cars, with Lewis Hamilton emerging ahead and seventh-starting Leclerc soon passing Russell as well to take fourth and fifth. Leclerc was soon ordered past Hamilton by the team as the Briton struggled from a lack of rear grip.

Verstappen couldn’t keep up appearances for long, though, with Norris breezing past the Dutchman on lap 13 into Turn 1. At that point Norris’ gap to his leading team-mate had grown to five seconds, a gap Norris couldn’t reduce before the first round of pitstops.

Verstappen responded by making an early pitstop for another set of soft tyres, the tyre compound everyone bar his pitlane starting team-mate Yuki Tsunoda had begun the race with.

With the advantage of fresh rubber being huge at the tyre-hungry Barcelona circuit, Verstappen quickly undercut Norris and after both McLarens pitted around lap 22 and 23 the Dutchman emerged in a net lead, albeit with an important tyre life deficit.

Verstappen was vocally frustrated with the Red Bull’s lack of grip, compounded by clutch issues, as he quickly converted from a two to a three stop strategy to drop behind the McLarens once more.

That second set of softs allowed the four-time world champion to stay in the mix by making inroads on second-placed Norris, who suffered from front-left tyre graining but still managed to keep the gap to his team-mate stable. At the halfway point Piastri led from Norris by four seconds, with Verstappen another two seconds behind. Leclerc was a lonely fourth followed by a battling Hamilton and Russell.

Verstappen continued gaining on Norris until his mediums were past their best and both McLarens started upping their pace. The Dutchman’s final roll of the dice was another undercut attempt with a third pitstop for used softs, but both McLarens responded with stops of their own to keep the top three positions as they were.

Having battled past the lapped Alonso, Lawson and Bearman, the race was then neutralised for Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who went off with an apparent technical issue to bring out a full safety car.

Most drivers came in again – making it three stops for McLaren and four for Verstappen – with Red Bull’s lead driver dismayed by being put on the much slower hard tyres, having no other tyres left.

Verstappen penalised after brawl with Russell 

On the lap 62 restart, a hefty delay after letting lapped cars unlap themselves, Piastri controlled from Norris at the front.

Meanwhile, Verstappen had a huge tank slapper out of the final corner that saw him lose momentum to allow Leclerc to jump ahead as the pair traded a glancing blow on the straight. Verstappen still struggled on the hard tyres into Turn 1 as Russell lunged down the inside, with Verstappen taking to the escape road.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

Verstappen went berserk when told to let Russell past by his race engineer and after appearing to give the position back into Turn 4 it then looked like he barged the Mercedes out of the way deliberately, an incident that was then investigated by the stewards.

At the front Piastri led Norris home by 2.4 seconds to take his fifth win of the 2025 season, extending his slender championship lead on Norris to 10 points.

Leclerc took the final spot on the podium ahead of Russell and Verstappen, but the Red Bull man then received a 10-second penalty that dropped him to 10th.

In the background Nico Hulkenberg was a brilliant fifth for Sauber after a late pass on Ferrari’s Hamilton. Isack Hadjar kept his nose clean to finish seventh, adding to his impressive run of results with Racing Bulls. Pierre Gasly lost out to his French compatriot but still scored important points for Alpine in eighth.

Fernando Alonso finally got off the mark with his first points of the season in ninth, the last driver to be elevated ahead of an angry Verstappen.

As well as Antonelli, Williams driver Alex Albon retired from the race following contact with Liam Lawson. Aston’s Lance Stroll didn’t start the race, withdrawing on medical grounds due to recurring pain to his right hand and wrist.

F1 Spanish GP – race results